Validation, rejection, and modification of automatically generated document annotations

ABSTRACT

A mixed-initiative annotation framework is described herein. A document that includes several sentences is presented to a user, and an extractor module analyzes at least one sentence and automatically extracts a subject, predicate, object triple therefrom. The subject, predicate, object triple is displayed in graphical relation with the sentence as a proposed annotation to the sentence. Graphical options are presented to the user that allow the user to accept the proposed annotation, reject the proposed annotation, or modify the proposed annotation.

BACKGROUND

Reviewers of documents often write annotations in the margins of pagesof the documents that are being read. These annotations can indicate areviewer's thoughts on a particular passage in a document, can highlighta portion of the document that the reviewer finds important, etc.Thereafter, if the reviewer subsequently reviews an annotated document,the reviewer can quickly locate portions of the document that thereviewer previously found to be important and can review annotations inthe margins to refresh the memory of the reviewer.

In a particular example, a researcher (one who is researching aparticular topic to generate a research paper) can read numerousdocuments and can annotate several of such documents in connection withgenerating a new research paper that is germane to the topics that arediscussed in the documents being reviewed by the researcher. Whencomposing the resulting research paper, the researcher can review themultiple annotations made to the documents for purposes of citation andanalysis.

In another example, students often annotate text books or articles in aneffort to improve memory regarding a particular topic that is discussedin the text book or articles. Thus, when a student attempts to commit aparticular topic to memory, the student need not re-read the entireportion of a textbook, but can quickly review previously madeannotations.

Some word processing applications have been configured withfunctionality that supports the addition of annotations to documents,wherein such annotations can be stored as part of the documents. Forexample, the user can highlight a particular portion of an electronicdocument and then choose to add a comment to such portion of theelectronic document. The comment, for instance, may be displayed in abubble in a margin of the electronic document. Additionally, someweb-based applications allow users to assign tags to web pages, images,or the like. For example, a user can choose to bookmark a particular webpage, assign descriptive terms to the bookmark, and then cause suchbookmark to be shared with others by way of a web-based application.Other forms of tagging include the addition of metadata to documents inorder to introduce information to machine learning systems for training.It can be ascertained that these systems that facilitate annotatingdocuments are restricted to user-initiated tags. Accordingly, for alarge document collection, this tagging process can be relativelyinefficient. Moreover, typically tags assigned by users to documents arein the form of an unstructured text string, which makes processing theseannotations cumbersome.

SUMMARY

The following is a brief summary of subject matter that is described ingreater detail herein. This summary is not intended to be limiting as tothe scope of the claims.

Described herein are various technologies pertaining to amixed-initiative annotation framework, wherein extractor modules can beutilized to automatically propose annotations to documents and a usercan validate, reject or modify proposed annotations. Once an annotationhas been validated by the user, the user may choose to share suchannotation with others. For instance, the user can choose to publish theannotations to a data repository that is accessible to others, such thatthe others can perform searches over the annotations in the datarepository, for example.

With more specificity, an extractor module can be configured to searchdocuments for particular text (words or phrases), a particular sentencestructure, or the like, and can automatically generate an annotation ofa particular format once the particular text, sentence structure, etc.has been located. The extractor module is configured to output orgenerate annotations of a particular format. More particularly, theextractor module is configured to generate a tuple, wherein the tuplecomprises a first word or phrase, a second word or phrase, and a thirdword or phrase that relates the first word or phrase to the second wordor phrase. In an example, the first word or phrase can be a subject of asentence, the second word or phrase can be an object of the sentence,and the third word or phrase can be a predicate that relates the subjectto the object.

It is to be understood that various extractor modules can be executedover the document, such that many different types of annotations can beautomatically generated. For instance, a first extractor module can beconfigured to search for a first particular word or phrase and generateannotations for the portions of the document that include the firstparticular word or phrase, while a second extractor module can beconfigured to search for a second word or phrase and generateannotations for portions of the document that include the second word orphrase.

Subsequent to one or more extractor modules generating annotations forthe document, the user can be provided with a plurality of selectablegraphical objects, wherein such graphical objects correspond tovalidation, rejection or modification of at least one annotation. Forinstance, the user can be provided with several annotation options for aportion of the document, wherein such options are automatically locatedby one or more extractor modules. Through selection of a radio button,the user can select one of the options to include in the annotation andmay thereafter select another graphical button to validate the modifiedannotation. In another example, at least one of the graphical objectscan be a text entry field, wherein a user can manually generate aportion of the tuple to replace the portion of the tuple that wasautomatically located by the extractor module. In still yet anotherexample, the user may select a particular portion of the document andcan manually generate an annotation without the aid of an extractormodule. Again, this annotation can be in the form of the tuple describedabove, such that the annotation includes a first word or phrase, asecond word or phrase, and a third word or phrase that relates the firstword or phrase to the second word or phrase.

Subsequent to the user validating one or more annotations in thedocument, the user may choose to publish the one or more annotationssuch that the annotations can be accessed and analyzed by others tolocate relationships between documents, topics etc. For instance, theuser may choose to publish annotations pertaining to a particulardocument, and a data packet can be automatically transmitted to a datastore that is accessible to others responsive to the user choosing topublish the annotation. The data packet can comprise the annotation (thetuple) and can further comprise relationship data, wherein therelationship data includes data that relates the annotation to at leastone attribute of the document. For instance, the relationship data caninclude first data that identifies the document to which the annotationwas assigned, second data that identifies the portion of the document towhich the annotation was assigned, third data that identifies an authorof the document to which the notation was assigned, fourth data thatidentifies the author of the annotation, amongst other relationshipdata. Since the annotations are in the form of the tuple describedabove, such annotations can be placed in a database that is suitable forprocessing by a processor, thereby allowing the database to be readilyqueried or the like to visualize relationships between documents,annotators, annotations, etc.

Other aspects will be appreciated upon reading and understanding theattached figures and description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an exemplary system thatfacilitates assigning annotations to a document.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary graphical user interface that facilitatesannotating documents.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of an exemplary system thatfacilitates aggregating annotations made to documents from a pluralityof users.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram that illustrates an exemplary methodology forproviding a user with options to validate, reject or modify anautomatically generated annotation to a document.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram that illustrates an exemplary methodology forproviding the user with a graphical user interface that facilitatesvalidation, rejection or modification of an automatically generatedannotation.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary computing system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various technologies pertaining to annotating electronic documents willnow be described with reference to the drawings, where like referencenumerals represent like elements throughout. In addition, severalfunctional block diagrams of exemplary systems are illustrated anddescribed herein for purposes of explanation; however, it is to beunderstood that functionality that is described as being carried out bycertain system components may be performed by multiple components.Similarly, for instance, a component may be configured to performfunctionality that is described as being carried out by multiplecomponents. Additionally, as used herein, the term “exemplary” isintended to mean serving as an illustration or example of something, andis not intended to indicate a preference.

With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system 100 that facilitatesannotation of documents is illustrated. The system 100, for example, maybe comprised by a client computing device such as a desktop computer, alaptop computer, a portable computing device such as a mobile telephone,or the like. In another example, the system 100 may be comprised by aserver that is accessible to a user. For instance, the system 100 may becomprised by an application executing on such server, wherein theapplication is accessible to users by way of an Internet browser. Thesystem 100 comprises a document display component 102 that causes adocument 104 to be displayed on a display screen of a computing device.For instance, the document display component 102 can cause the document104 to be displayed to a user 106 responsive to the user 106 selectingthe document 104 from one or more available documents retained in a datarepository. For instance, the user 106 can select a graphical icon thatcorresponds to the document 104, which can cause the document displaycomponent 102 to display the document 104 to the user 106 on the displayscreen of the computing device. In another example, the user 106 caninitiate an application that is configured for viewing/annotatingdocuments and can select the document 104 through utilization ofpull-down menus, etc. The document 104 comprises multiple differentportions 108-112. A portion of the document 104 may be a sentence, aparagraph, a page, or the like.

An input receiver component 114 can receive input from the user 106pertaining to the document 104. An extractor module 116 is incommunication with the input receiver component 114, and automaticallygenerates an annotation responsive to the input receiver component 114receiving the input from the user 106. For instance, the input from theuser 106 can indicate that the user wishes that the extractor module 116execute over one of the portions 108, 110, or 112 of the document 104 orall portions 108, 110, and 112 of the document 104. Therefore, forexample, the input receiver component 114 can receive a selection fromthe user 106 of one of the portions 108-112 of the document 104. Theuser 106 can select a particular portion of the document 104 throughutilization of a cursor, a touch, a gesture, a spoken command, or thelike.

The extractor module 116 is a computer-executable program thatautomatically generates annotations in a particular format based atleast in part upon some predefined criteria. For example, the extractormodule 116 may be configured to search for portions of the document 104that have a particular sentence structure, that have a particular wordor phrase included therein, that have a citation to another documentincluded therein, etc. For instance, the extractor module 116 can beconfigured to search for a particular biological term in the portions108-112 of the document 104, and may generate annotations for theportions 108-112 of the document that include such biological term. Inanother example, the extractor module 116 may be configured to searchfor sentences that include some notion of causation—that a first entitycauses a particular response. In still yet another example, theextractor module 116 can be configured to search for citations to otherdocuments in the document 104 and can automatically generate annotationsfor portions of the document 104 that include a citation. It istherefore to be understood that the extractor module 116 can beconfigured to automatically generate annotations for portions of thedocument 104 that include or meet some predefined criteria thatcorresponds to the extractor module 116.

Further, the user 106 can select the extractor module 116 from amongst aplurality of available extractor modules. Therefore, a plurality ofextractor modules can be made available to the user 106, and the user106 can select the extractor module 116 based upon the predefinedcriteria that corresponds to the extractor module 116, such that theextractor module 116 automatically generates annotations for portions ofthe document that meet or include the predefined criteria. Additionally,the user 106 can indicate that the extractor module 116 is to executeover all portions 108-112 of the document 104, or the user 106 canindicate that the user 106 wishes that the extractor module 116 executeonly over a portion of the document 104 that was specifically selectedby the user 106. Subsequent to the input receiver component 114receiving such input, the extractor module 116 is configured to extracta tuple 118 from at least one of the portions 108-112 of the document104, and cause such tuple 118 to be displayed in the document 104 ingraphical relation to the portion of the document 114 from which thetuple 118 was extracted. A tuple is an ordered list of elements, and theelements of the tuple extracted by the extractor module 116 from thedocument 104 comprise a first word or phrase, a second word or phrase,and a third word or phrase that relates the first word or phrase to thesecond word or phrase. It is to be understood that the ordering of theseelements in a tuple extracted by the extractor module 116 can be anysuitable ordering, so long as such ordering is consistent across tuples.With respect to displaying the tuple 118 in graphical relation to theportion of the document from which the tuple 118 was extracted, suchportion of the document 104 can be highlighted, thereby providing theuser 106 with a visual indication that the portion of the documentcorresponds to the tuple 118. Alternatively, the tuple 118 can bepresented as a bubble that is displayed in relation to the portion ofthe document 104. Other manners for displaying annotations in graphicalrelations to portions of the document 104 from which the annotationswere extracted are contemplated by the inventors and are intended tofall under the scope of the hereto-appended claims.

It can be ascertained that even the most sophisticated extractor modulemay be imperfect in all contexts. Accordingly, the system 100 cancomprise an option presenter component 120 that is in communication withthe extractor module 116, wherein the option presenter component 120causes a plurality of graphical objects 122-124 to be displayed to theuser in the document 104 in graphical relation with the tuple 118. Forinstance, the plurality of objects 122-124 can be displayed in the samefield as the tuple 118. In another example, the plurality of objects122-124 can be displayed in a field in the document 104 that is adjacentto a field that includes the tuple 118.

The plurality of graphical objects 122-124 correspond to a plurality ofdifferent options, wherein the options allow the user 106 to validatethe tuple 118, reject the tuple 118, or modify the tuple 118. Pursuantto an example, the extractor module 116 can be configured to extract asubject, predicate, object, triple from a portion of the document 104,wherein such portion is a sentence. That is, the extractor module 116can be configured with natural language processing functionality thatallows the extractor module 116 to identify the subject of a sentence,the predicate in the sentence, and the object in the sentence. In somesituations, however, there may be multiple possible subjects, objects,or predicates in a sentence, and the extractor module 116 can presentthe tuple 118 in the document 104 as the most likely subject, object,predicate, triple. The extractor module 116, however, can also identifyother options for the subject, the object, or the predicate of thesentence. These other possible subjects, objects, and/or predicates canbe presented to the user 106 by the option presenter component 120 inthe form of one or more selectable graphical objects. For instance, thegraphical objects 122-124 can include a plurality of radio buttons thatcorrespond to different options for different elements of the tuple 118.The user 106 may select one or more of these radio buttons to replaceelements in the tuple 118 with other possible elements presented to theuser 106 by the option presenter component 120.

In another exemplary embodiment, the graphical objects 122-124 caninclude a button that, when depressed by the user 106, can cause thetuple 118 to be validated by the user 106. For example, the extractormodule 116 may have generated an annotation that the user 106 wishes tobe assigned to the document 104, and the user 106 can depress theaforementioned graphical button to cause the tuple 118 to be validated.In still yet another exemplary embodiment, the graphical objects 122-124can include a text entry field or multiple text entry fields, whereinthe user 106 can replace one or more of the elements of the tuple 118 bymanually generating a replacement element for the tuple 118. Asmentioned previously, the extractor module 116 may be configured toextract subject, object, predicate, triples from sentences in thedocument 104. The user 106, however, may wish to annotate a sentencewith words/phrases that are not included in such sentence. Accordingly,the user 106 can utilize a text entry field to manually generate one ormore of the elements of the tuple 118 and cause one or more elements inthe tuple 118 generated by the extractor module 116 to be replaced.Various other exemplary graphical objects such as sliders, radiobuttons, text entry fields, check boxes, and the like are contemplatedby the inventors and are intended to fall under the scope of the heretoappended claims with respect to graphical objects that can be utilizedin connection with validating, rejecting, or modifying tuples output byan extractor module such as the extractor module 116.

The system 100 may also optionally include a publisher component 126that is configured to publish tuples that have been validated by theuser 106 responsive to receipt of commands from the user 106 to publishsuch annotations. For example, the input receiver component 114 canreceive a request from the user 106 to publish validated annotations inthe document 104 and, responsive to the input receiver component 114receiving such request from the user 106, the publisher component 126can generate a data packet and cause such data packet to be transmittedby way of a network to a data store 128 that is accessible to others.There the data packet can be aggregated with other data packets 130 ofsubstantially similar format. A data packet generated by the publishercomponent 126 can include at least one tuple that has been assigned tothe document 104 and validated by the user 106 (e.g., with or withoutuser modification) and relationship data that indicates a relationshipbetween the tuple 118 and at least one attribute of the document 104.For example, the relationship data can comprise at least one of firstdata that identifies the document 104 to which the tuple 118 has beenassigned, second data that identifies a portion of the document 104 towhich the tuple 118 has been assigned, third data that identifies theauthor of the document 104 to which the tuple 118 has been assigned,fourth data that identifies the annotator (the user 106), amongst otherdata that can relate the tuple 118 to the document 104. Aggregating theplurality of data packets 130 from a plurality of different users acrossvarying documents can generate a network of knowledge that hasheretofore been unavailable.

Pursuant to an example, the document 104 can be a word processingdocument. Accordingly a document display component 102, input receivercomponent 114, the extractor module 116, the option presenter component120, and the publisher component 126 can be included in a wordprocessing application that is executing on a client computing devicebeing utilized by the user 106, or on a server that is accessible to theuser by way of an Internet browser. In another example, the document 104may be a web page. Therefore, the document display component 102, theinput receiver component 114, the extractor module 116, the optionpresenter component 120, and the publisher component 126 can becomprised by a web browser.

With reference now to FIG. 2, an exemplary graphical user interface 200that facilitates assignment of annotations to a document is illustrated.For example, the graphical user interface 200 may correspond to a wordprocessing application, a web browser, or other suitable application.The graphical user interface 200 comprises a first field 202 that isconfigured to display the document 104 on a display screen of thecomputing device. As shown, the document 104 displayed in the firstfield 202 comprises a plurality of different portions of text. It is tobe understood, however, that the document 104 shown in the first field202 can comprise images, links to videos, etc. The portions of text ofthe document 104 can be sentences, paragraphs, etc.

In the exemplary graphical user interface 200, the user 106 has selecteda first portion 204 of the document being displayed in the first field202 wherein, for instance, the user 106 has selected the first portion204 of the document 106 through utilization of a cursor, a gesture, avoice command, a touch, etc. Upon selecting the first portion 204 of thedocument 106 in the first field 202, the first portion 204 can behighlighted in the document 106 to differentiate it from other portionsof the document 106 displayed in the first field 202. In an example, thefirst portion 204 can be a sentence, and the sentence can be highlightedupon the user 106 placing the cursor anywhere in the sentence in thefirst field 202. A second portion 206 of the document 106 displayed inthe first field 202 can also be highlighted to differentiate suchportion 206 from the first portion 204 and other portions of thedocument 106. For instance, the first portion 204 and the second portion206 can be highlighted in different colors, can be displayed indifferent fonts, can be displayed in different text sizes, etc.

Further, highlighting the first portion 204 and the second portion 206in the first field 202 can indicate the first portion 204 and secondportion 206 have annotations of the format described above assignedthereto. That is, the first portion 204 and the second portion 206 canhave tuples assigned thereto, either automatically by the extractormodule 116 or manually by the user.

Responsive to the user 106 selecting the first portion 204 and/or thesecond portion 206 of the document 104 displayed in the first field 202,a second field 208 in the graphical user interface 200 can be populatedwith the portions 204 and 206 and/or tuples assigned thereto. The secondfield 208 can graphically display the portions 204 and 206 of thedocument 104 displayed in the first field 202 that are highlighted aswell as annotations of the aforementioned format that have been assignedto the portions 204 and 206. Annotations that are in the form of thetuple described above can also be referred to herein as “facts.”Therefore, for instance, responsive to the user 106 selecting the firstportion 204 in the document 104 displayed in the first field 202, thefirst portion 204 can be displayed in a first window 210 of the secondfield 208. Additionally, the second field 208 may comprise a secondwindow 212 that displays a fact that has been assigned to the firstportion 204.

Pursuant to an example, the fact displayed in the second window 212 canbe automatically generated by the extractor module 116. If the firstportion 204 of the document 104 that was selected by the user 106 in thefirst field 202 does not have a fact assigned thereto, then, forinstance, the second window 112 in the second field 208 can be empty.

The second window 212 can comprise a first button or hyperlink 214 and asecond button or hyperlink 216. The first button or hyperlink 214 cancause a fact to be added to the first portion 204 of the document 104displayed in the first window 210 of the second field 208. For instance,selection of the first button or hyperlink 214 can cause the extractormodule 116 to execute over the first portion 204 of the document shownin the first window 210 of the second field 208 and automatically assigna fact to the first portion 204 of the document 104. Alternatively,selection of the first button or hyperlink 214 can cause the factdisplayed in the second window 212 to be assigned to the first portion204 displayed in the first window 210 of the second field 208. Inanother example, if a fact was previously assigned to the first portion204 of the document 104, then such fact can be presented in the secondwindow 212 of the second field 208 responsive to the user 106 selectingthe first portion 204 of the document 104 in the first field 202. Theuser 106 can review the fact shown in the second window 212 and, if theuser chooses to refrain from assigning the fact shown in the secondwindow 212 to the first portion 204, the user 106 can select the secondbutton or hyperlink 216, which causes the tuple to be deleted anddisassociated with the first portion 204 of the document 104. Thus, thehyperlinks or buttons 114 and 116 can allow the user 106 to validate orreject a fact that was automatically assigned to the document 104 by theextractor module 116.

The second field 208 further comprises a pair of buttons 218 and 220,wherein selection of the button 218 by the user 106 can cause a fact tobe added to the document 104 while depression of the button 220 cancause a fact to be deleted from the document 104. In an example, theextractor module 116 may not automatically generate a fact for a portionof the document 104 that is of interest to the user 106. The user 106can manually generate a fact and cause such fact to be assigned to thedocument 104 through depression of the button 218. Similarly, the user106 can cause a fact to be removed through depression of the button 220.

The second field 208 may further comprise a third window 222 and afourth window 224, which are configured to display, for instance, thesecond portion 206 of the document 104 shown in the first field 202 andany facts that are assigned thereto. Thus, as shown, the second field208 can include sufficient display screen real estate to depict aplurality of sentences shown in the first field 202 and associatedfacts. It is to be understood, however, that in some embodiments it maybe beneficial to show a single portion (sentence) of a second field 208and facts corresponding to such single portion rather than using screenreal estate to display multiple portions of the document 104.

The graphical user interface 200 can further comprise a third field 226that includes tools that allow the user 106 to modify facts that wereautomatically generated by the extractor module 116. Additionally, thethird field 226 includes tools that allow the user 106 to manuallyassign a fact to a portion of the document 104 shown in the first field102, wherein such portion of the document 104 fails to include anannotation generated by the extractor module 116. In an example, thethird field 226 can comprise a fifth window 228, a sixth window 230 anda seventh window 232. The fifth window 228 can be configured to displaya plurality of options located by the extractor module 116 thatcorrespond to a first element of the fact, which can be a first word orphrase (a subject). For instance, the fifth window 228 can display aplurality of possible subjects of the first portion 204 of the document104, as located by the extractor module 116. The sixth window 230 candisplay another plurality of options found by the extractor module 116for a second element in the fact, which can be the aforementioned thirdword or phrase (a predicate or verb that relates the subject to anobject). Similarly, the seventh window 232 can comprise a plurality ofoptions located by the extractor module for a third element in the fact(an object that is related to the subject by way of the predicate). Eachof the options shown in the fifth window 228, the sixth window 230, andthe seventh window 232 can have a radio button or checkbox correspondingthereto, such that the user can select one of the options shown in eachof the fifth window 228, the sixth window 230 and the seventh window232. It is to be understood that in this approach, the format of thefact (tuple) is maintained for all facts assigned to portions of thedocument shown in the first field 202. Additionally, the options shownin the windows 228-232 allow the user to modify an annotation that wasautomatically generated by the extractor module 116.

The third field 226 can also comprise a first text entry field 234, asecond text entry field 236, and a third text entry field 238. Thesetext entry fields 234-238 are configured to receive user-generated factsor portions of facts (elements of the tuple). For instance, the user 106may wish to assign a fact to a sentence in the document 104, wherein theextractor module 116 was imperfect in locating options for the fact orwas not configured to generate a fact for the sentence. The user 106 canutilize one or more of the text entry fields 234-238 to enter her ownfact or portion of a fact. For instance, if the user 106 does not see adesirable option for the second word or phrase shown in the seventhwindow 232, the user 106 can select a radio button, checkbox, etc.corresponding to the first text entry field 234 and can enter her owntext in such text entry field 234. Similarly, for example, if the textentry field 230 does not include a predicate that is desired to beassociated with a portion of the document selected by the user 106, thenthe user 106 can select the radio button, checkbox, etc. correspondingto the second text entry field 236 and can manually enter a desiredpredicate. Likewise, the user 106 can enter text into the first textentry field 238 to assign a customized subject to the portion 204 of thedocument 104.

The graphical user interface 200 can further comprise a save button 240,wherein depression of the save button 240 causes a fact modified by wayof the third field 226 to be assigned to the portion of text selected bythe user 106 and highlighted in the first field 202. The graphical userinterface 200 further comprises a publish graphical button 242 that,when selected by the user 106, causes at least one data packet to begenerated and transmitted to a to the data store 128 that is accessibleto others by way of the network connection. The form of the data packethas been described above.

While the graphical user interface 200 has been shown as having aparticular configuration, it is be understood that other configurationsare contemplated by the inventors and are intended to fall under thescope of the hereto-appended claims. Specifically, any configurationthat allows a user to view a document, select a portion of such documentand see facts automatically generated by an extractor module, validatesuch facts, reject such facts, and/or modify such facts, is intended tofall under the scope of the hereto appended claims.

Turning now to FIG. 3, an exemplary system 300 that facilitatesaggregating facts made to documents by multiple users of differentcomputing devices by way of, for instance, the graphical user interface200 is illustrated. The system 300 includes a plurality of computingdevices 302-306. The plurality of computing devices 302-306 comprises afirst computing device 302, a second computing device 304, and an Nthcomputing device 306. Each of the computing devices 302-306 has anapplication 308 executing thereon.

Pursuant to an example, a user of the first computing device 302 caninitiate the application 308 such that the application 308 is executingon the first computing device 302. The user may cause the application308 to display a particular document that is desirably reviewed by theuser of the first computing device 302. When reviewing such document,the user can generate or review and approve facts that pertain to suchdocument. Thereafter, the user may wish to publish these facts such thatthe facts can be viewed by others who may also be interested in aparticular research field that pertains to the document, etc. Therefore,through utilization of the application 308, the user of the firstcomputing device 302 can choose to publish the facts made to thedocument was reviewed through utilization of the application 308. Forexample, the user can indicate that she wishes to publish the facts byway of a selection of the graphical button 242 on the graphical userinterface 200, and the publisher component 126 can act to publish suchfacts.

Upon receiving a command to publish the facts in the document, theapplication 308 generates a data packet as discussed previously. Thisdata packet can include a fact, which comprises the tuple of a firstword or phrase, a second word or phrase, and a third word or phrase thatrelates the first and second words or phrases. The data packet generatedby the application 308 can also include relationship data, wherein therelationship data can identify relationships between the fact includedin the data packet and attributes of the document to which the fact isassigned. It is to be understood that multiple reviewers of variousdifferent documents can use the application 308 to review and assignfacts to such documents and may then choose to publish these facts sothe facts can be aggregated and utilized for review/analysis.

The system 300 further comprises an aggregation system 310 that isconfigured to aggregate data packets transmitted from the computingdevices 302-306. For instance, the aggregation system 310 may be incommunication with the computing devices 302-306 by way of a suitablenetwork 312. Pursuant to an example, the network 312 can be theInternet. In another example, the network 312 may be a cellular network,an intranet, or other suitable network such as a local area network, awireless area network, etc. Responsive to, for instance, the user of thefirst computing device 302 choosing to publish facts corresponding tothe document being reviewed by way of the application 308, at least onedata packet is transmitted from the first computing device 302 to theaggregation system 310 by way of the network 312. Furthermore, is to beunderstood that each of the computing devices 302-306 may transmitmultiple data packets to the aggregation system 310 by way of thenetwork 312.

The aggregation system 310 can comprise a plurality of components thatare executable by a processor. Therefore, the aggregation system 310 maybe included in, for instance, a server system that comprises at leastone processor and corresponding memory, wherein components and memoryare accessible and executable by the processor. The plurality ofcomponents may comprise a receiver component 314 that receives a datapacket transmitted by way of the application 308 executing on the firstcomputing device 302. As described above, the data packet has a firstformat that includes a tuple and corresponding relationship data. Thetuple has been assigned to a portion of a document being reviewed by theuser by way of the application 308 and the tuple comprises a pluralityof elements (the first word or phrase, second word or phrase, and thirdword or phrase that relates the first word or phrase to the second wordor phrase). Further, the relationship data in some way relates the tuplewith the document to which the tuple was assigned.

The aggregation system 310 further comprises an aggregator component 316that is in communication with receiver component 314, wherein theaggregator component 316 is configured to aggregate a data packetreceived by the receiver component 314 with other data packets of thesame format in a data repository 318. In other words, each factcomprises a tuple that includes, for instance, a subject, predicate,object, triple. The aggregator component 316 can cause a plurality ofdifferent data packets that were received from a plurality of differentcomputing devices with respect to a plurality of different documentsthat were assigned a plurality of different tuples to be retained in thedata repository 318 as data packets 320. The aggregator component 316,for instance, can be configured to aggregate the data packets 320 in thedata repository 318 in some suitable database format such that the datapackets 320 are readily processable by a computer processor. Thisaggregation of multiple tuples pertaining to multiple differentdocuments by different annotators creates a network of knowledge thatwas heretofore unavailable. In other words, the data packets 320 can beaggregated in the data repository 318 by the aggregator component 316 ina format suitable for a processor to perform at least one processingfunction over at least one of the data packets in the data packets 320.

For instance, the aggregation system 310 may optionally include a searchcomponent 322 that can receive a query by way of the network 312 andexecute a search over the data packets 320 in the data repository 318based at least in part upon the query. For example, the query receivedby the search component 322 can include a word or phrase. The searchcomponent 322 can be configured to search for facts in the data packets320 that comprise the word or phrase. The search component 322 may alsobe configured to output search results to the user responsive toexecution of the search over the data packets 320, wherein the searchresults can include tuples that comprise a word or phrase in the query(or related words or phrases), as well as relationship datacorresponding to such tuples. In another example, the search component322 can receive the name of an author as a query and the searchcomponent 322 can retrieve annotations or facts in the data packets 320that were authored by the author or were assigned documents that wereauthored by such author.

The aggregation system 310 may further optionally comprise avisualization component 324 that can visualize tuples and relationshipsin the data packets 320. Pursuant to an example, the visualizationcomponent 324 can be in communication with the search component 322 andcan visualize relationships between facts and correspondingdocuments/authors/other annotations retrieved by the search component322.

The aggregation system 310 may further optionally include a miningcomponent 326 that performs a data mining function over the data packets320 in the data repository 318. For instance, the mining component 326may be configured to search for patterns in the data packets 320retained in the data repository 318 such that, for example, identitiesof authors that comment on a particular topic frequently can beascertained, identities of authors that are frequently co-cited, can beascertained, etc. Relationships or patterns located by the miningcomponent 326 can be output or can influence searches undertaken by thesearch component 322.

With reference now to FIGS. 4-5, various exemplary methodologies areillustrated and described. While the methodologies are described asbeing a series of acts that are performed in a sequence, it is to beunderstood that the methodologies are not limited by the order of thesequence. For instance, some acts may occur in a different order thanwhat is described herein. In addition, an act may occur concurrentlywith another act. Furthermore, in some instances, not all acts may berequired to implement a methodology described herein.

Moreover, the acts described herein may be computer-executableinstructions that can be implemented by one or more processors and/orstored on a computer-readable medium or media. The computer-executableinstructions may include a routine, a sub-routine, programs, a thread ofexecution, and/or the like. Still further, results of acts of themethodologies may be stored in a computer-readable medium, displayed ona display device, and/or the like. The computer-readable medium may be anon-transitory medium, such as memory, hard drive, CD, DVD, flash drive,or the like.

With reference now to FIG. 4, a methodology 400 that facilitatesassigning annotations (tuples) to documents is illustrated. Themethodology 400 starts at 402, and at 404, a processor is caused tosearch for content in a document that corresponds to predefinedcriteria. In other words, predefined criteria is searched for overdifferent portions of a document such as sentences, paragraphs etc. Thepredefined criteria may be a particular sentence structure, a particularword or phrase, or the like. As described above, this predefinedcriteria may be searched over by an extractor module. Accordingly, theuser may select a particular extractor module from amongst a pluralityof available extractor modules. Thus, the user can select certainpredefined criteria from amongst a plurality of different predefinedcriteria.

At 406, a portion of a document that corresponds to the predefinedcriteria is located. Again, this portion of the document can be locatedbased at least in part upon the search performed for the predefinedcriteria. Accordingly, the extractor module selected by the user haslocated a portion of a document that has the predefined word or phrase,has the appropriate sentence structure, etc.

At 408, a tuple of words or phrases is extracted from the portion of thedocument or in the tuple of words or phrases comprises a plurality ofordered elements (words or phrases). The plurality of ordered elementsincludes a first word or phrase, a second word or phrase, and a thirdword or phrase that relates the first word or phrase to the second wordor phrase, Pursuant to a particular example, the elements of the tuplecan be a subject, predicate, object, triple. That is, the extractormodule can have natural language processing functionality correspondingthereto and can automatically identify and extract subject, object,predicate, triples from sentences in the document.

At 410, the tuple extracted at 408 is caused to be displayed on adisplay screen as a proposed annotation to the document. For instance,the tuple can be displayed in graphical relation to the portion of thedocument to which the tuple corresponds.

At 412, a user-selectable graphical object is caused to be displayed onthe display screen in graphical relation with the proposed annotation tothe document. This user selectable graphical object, when selected bythe user, can cause the tuple to be one of validated by the user,rejected by the user, or modified by the user. That is, the userselectable graphical object can be a graphical button, for instance,that causes the proposed annotation to be validated by the user suchthat the proposed annotation is saved in a data repository in relationto the document or as part of the document. In another example, theuser-selectable graphical object can be a button that causes theproposed annotation to be disassociated with a document or entirelydeleted. In still yet another example, the user selectable graphicalobject can be a button that when selected causes an element of the tupleto be replaced with another proposed element of the tuple. For instance,an extractor module may output several possible words or phrases for aparticular element in the tuple and these different options can haveradio buttons corresponding thereto. Accordingly, selection of the radiobutton or checkbox can cause the tuple to be modified. In yet anotherexample, the graphical object can be a text entry field such that theuser can replace an element in the proposed annotation (tuple) with amanually generated element. The methodology 400 completes at 414.

Turning now to FIG. 5, an exemplary methodology 500 that facilitatesannotating a document is illustrated. The methodology 500 starts at 502,and at 504 at least one sentence in a document is analyzed responsive toinput from a user. More particularly, responsive to input from the user,at least one sentence in a document can be analyzed, wherein thedocument is displayed to the user by way of a word processingapplication that is executing on a computing device.

At 506, a tuple is automatically generated based at least in part uponthe analyzing of the at least one sentence in the document. In theexemplary methodology 500, the tuple comprises a subject, object,predicate, triple.

At 508, the tuple is caused to be displayed on a display screen of thecomputing device in graphical relation to the at least one sentence. Inother words, the tuple is shown as a proposed annotation with respect tothe at least one sentence.

At 510, three graphical objects are caused to be displayed in graphicalrelation to the tuple to facilitate tuple validation, rejection, ormodification of the tuple. With more particularity, a first graphicalobject, a second graphical object, and a third graphical object arecaused to be displayed on the computing device in graphical relationwith the tuple. User selection of the first graphical object indicatesuser validation of the tuple, user selection of the second graphicalobjects indicates user rejection of the tuple, and user selection of thethird graphical objects indicates that the user wishes to modify atleast one element of the tuple. The methodology 500 completes at 512.

Now referring to FIG. 6, a high-level illustration of an exemplarycomputing device 600 that can be used in accordance with the systems andmethodologies disclosed herein is illustrated. For instance, thecomputing device 600 may be used in a system that supports automaticannotation of documents. In another example, at least a portion of thecomputing device 600 may be used in a system that supports validation,rejection, or modification of an automatically generated tuple. Thecomputing device 600 includes at least one processor 602 that executesinstructions that are stored in a memory 604. The memory 604 may be orinclude RAM, ROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, or other suitable memory. Theinstructions may be, for instance, instructions for implementingfunctionality described as being carried out by one or more componentsdiscussed above or instructions for implementing one or more of themethods described above. The processor 602 may access the memory 604 byway of a system bus 606. In addition to storing executable instructions,the memory 604 may also store extractor modules, documents, annotationsto documents, relationship data, etc.

The computing device 600 additionally includes a data store 608 that isaccessible by the processor 602 by way of the system bus 606. The datastore may be or include any suitable computer-readable storage,including a hard disk, memory, etc. The data store 608 may includeexecutable instructions, documents, relationship data, tuples, etc. Thecomputing device 600 also includes an input interface 610 that allowsexternal devices to communicate with the computing device 600. Forinstance, the input interface 610 may be used to receive instructionsfrom an external computer device, from a user, etc. The computing device600 also includes an output interface 612 that interfaces the computingdevice 600 with one or more external devices. For example, the computingdevice 600 may display text, images, etc. by way of the output interface612.

Additionally, while illustrated as a single system, it is to beunderstood that the computing device 600 may be a distributed system.Thus, for instance, several devices may be in communication by way of anetwork connection and may collectively perform tasks described as beingperformed by the computing device 600.

As used herein, the terms “component”, “system”, and “module” areintended to encompass hardware, software, or a combination of hardwareand software. Thus, for example, a component, system, or module may be aprocess, a process executing on a processor, or a processor.Additionally, a component, system, or module may be localized on asingle device or distributed across several devices. Furthermore, acomponent, system, of module may refer to a portion of memory and/or aseries of transistors.

It is noted that several examples have been provided for purposes ofexplanation. These examples are not to be construed as limiting thehereto-appended claims. Additionally, it may be recognized that theexamples provided herein may be permutated while still falling under thescope of the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method executed by a processor of a computingdevice, the method comprising: displaying a portion of a document on adisplay screen; receiving a selection of the portion of the documentthat is free of annotations, the portion of the document comprising asentence; responsive to receiving the selection, displaying a first textentry field, a second text entry field, and a third text entry field onthe display screen, wherein the first text entry field is configured toreceive a subject of the sentence, the second text entry field isconfigured to receive an object of the sentence, and the third textentry field is configured to receive a predicate that relates thesubject of the sentence to the object of the sentence; receiving a firstentry in the first text entry field, a second entry in the second textentry field, and a third entry in the third text entry field; andresponsive to receiving the first entry, the second entry, and the thirdentry, storing the first entry, the second entry, and the third entrycollectively as an annotation to the portion of the document.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: searching for content in thedocument that corresponds to predefined criteria; locating a secondportion of the document that corresponds to the predefined criteriabased at least in part upon the searching for the content in thedocument that corresponds to the predefined criteria; extracting a tupleof words or phrases from the second portion of the document, the tupleof words or phrases comprises an ordered set of words or phrases, theordered set of words or phrases comprises a first word or phrase, asecond word or phrase, and a third word or phrase that relates the firstword or phrase to the second word or phrase; displaying the tuple on thedisplay screen as a proposed annotation to the document; and displayinga first user-selectable graphical object on the display screen togetherwith the proposed annotation, wherein selection of the first graphicalobject causes the proposed annotation to be one of validated, rejected,or modified.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion of thedocument is displayed on the display screen by way of an applicationexecuting on the computing device, and wherein the application executingon the computing device is one of a word processing application or a webbrowser.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the user-selectable graphicalobject is one of a radio button, a depressible graphical button, a checkbox, or a text entry field.
 5. The method of claim 2, wherein selectionof the first graphical object causes the proposed annotation to bevalidated, and further comprising causing the proposed annotation to beretained in a data store of the computing device as a portion of thedocument responsive to receipt of the selection of the first graphicalobject.
 6. The method of claim 2, further comprising: receiving aselection of a third portion of the document, wherein the third portionof the document comprises text; responsive to receiving the selection ofthe third portion of the document, automatically generating anothertuple based at least in part upon the text in the third portion of thedocument; and displaying the another tuple on the display screen asanother proposed annotation.
 7. The method of claim 2, wherein the firstword or phrase is a subject of a sentence, the second word or phrase isan object of the sentence, and the third word or phrase is a predicatein the sentence that relates the subject to the object.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: receiving an indication that the annotationis desirably published; and responsive to receiving the indication,causing the annotation to be transmitted to a data repository that isaccessible to users by way of a network.
 9. The method of claim 8,further comprising: responsive to receiving the indication, generating adata packet, wherein the data packet comprises the annotation andrelationship data that relates the annotation to at least one attributeof the document; and transmitting the data packet to the datarepository.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is configuredfor execution on a mobile telephone.
 11. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving a request to automatically extract tuples from thedocument; and searching for content in the document that corresponds topredefined criteria responsive to receiving the request to automaticallyextract the tuples from the document.
 12. The method of claim 11,wherein the request to automatically extract tuples from the documentcomprises a selection of the predefined criteria from amongst aplurality of criteria options.
 13. A system comprising: a processor; anda memory that comprises components that are executable by the processor,the components comprising: a document display component that causes aselected document to be displayed on a display screen of a computingdevice, wherein the document comprises a plurality of portions; areceiver component that receives a selection of a portion of thedocument from amongst the plurality of portions, the portion of thedocument comprising a sentence, wherein responsive to receiving theselection of the portion of the document, the document display componentcauses a first text entry field, a second text entry field, and a thirdtext entry field to be displayed in relation to the portion of thedocument, the first text entry field configured to receive a subject ofthe sentence, the second text entry field configured to receive anobject of the sentence, and the third text entry field configured toreceive a predicate that relates the subject of the sentence to theobject of the sentence, content received in the first text entry field,the second text entry field, and the third text entry field stored incomputer-readable data storage as an annotation to the selecteddocument.
 14. The system of claim 13 comprised by an application that isexecuting on a server, wherein the application is accessible to a clientcomputing device by way of a web browser.
 15. The system of claim 13comprised by an application executing on a client computing device,wherein the application is one of a word processing application or a webbrowser.
 16. The system of claim 13, further comprising a publishercomponent that causes tuples validated by the user to be transmitted toa data repository that is accessible to others.
 17. The system of claim13, wherein the receiver component receives a selection of a secondportion of the document from amongst the plurality of portions, thesystem further comprising: an extractor component that, responsive tothe receiver component receiving the selection of the second portion ofthe document, automatically extracts a tuple from the second portion ofthe document, wherein the tuple comprises a first word or phrase, asecond word or phrase, and a third word or phrase that relates the firstword or phrase to the second word or phrase, wherein subsequent to theextractor component automatically extracting the tuple from the secondportion of the document, the document display component displays thetuple as a proposed annotation on the display screen of the computingdevice, and the tuple provides a description of the second portion ofthe document; and an option presenter component that causes a pluralityof graphical objects to be displayed on the display screen together withthe tuple, wherein the plurality of graphical objects correspond tovalidation of the tuple, rejection of the tuple, and modification of thetuple.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one graphical objectin the plurality of graphical objects corresponds to modification of thetuple, and wherein the at least one graphical object facilitatesuser-selection of one of a plurality of alternates to the first word orphrase, the second word or phrase, or the third word or phrase.
 19. Thesystem of claim 17, wherein at least one graphical object in theplurality of graphical objects corresponds to modification of the tuple,and wherein the at least one graphical object comprises a text entryfield that is configured to receive a user-generated replacement for oneof the first word or phrase, the second word or phrase, or the thirdword or phrase.
 20. A computer-readable memory comprising instructionsthat, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform actscomprising: displaying a portion of a document on a display screen, theportion of the document comprising a sentence; receiving a selection ofthe portion of the document; responsive to receiving the selection ofthe portion of the document, displaying, in graphical relation with theportion of the document, a first text entry field, a second text entryfield, and a third text entry field, the first text entry fieldconfigured to receive a subject of the sentence, the second text entryfield configured to receive an object of the sentence, and the thirdtext entry field configured to receive a predicate that relates thesubject to the object; receiving the subject in the first text entryfield; receiving the object in the second text entry field; receivingthe predicate in the third text entry field; responsive to receiving thesubject in the first text entry field, the object in the second textentry field, and the predicate in the third text entry field, storingthe subject, the object, and the predicate as an annotation to theportion of the document.